A Call for a Second Global Day of Prayer to End Famine

The World Council of Churches, World Evangelical Alliance and All Africa Conference of Churches, along with church-related humanitarian organizations and a coalition of church-related networks and organizations and partners, are promoting 10 June 2018 as the second annual Global Day of Prayer to End Famine to be observed in faith congregations worldwide. The Day of Prayer to End Famine will unite faith communities all over the world as a prayerful and spiritual movement to:

Promote prayer, reflection and action with information and suggestions.

Bring awareness regarding famine’s impact on the most vulnerable children and families, and help address its root causes.

Connect with church-related and other humanitarian organizations that are currently working to bring immediate relief and positive long-term change so children and families can live out God’s aspiration for a dignified, peaceful and violence-free future.

Help communities and congregations uphold each other in prayer and support, by sharing experiences, challenge and solutions.

As in 2017 120 organizations promoted the Global Day of Prayer to End Famine, it is our hope that many will continue to join and respond to the call on the same lines this year. There is a form at https://goo.gl/forms/sYOPzxlWjLIJKazu1 open for all organizations, faith communities, partners and friends to express their continued and shared commitment to the day of prayer.

Some wandered in desert wastes,finding no way to an inhabited town;Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them.Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress;He led them by a straight way,until they reached an inhabited town. Psalm 107: 4- 7

As a contribution by the faith community to a global effort to prevent famine, the 2017 Global Day of Prayer to End Famine played a critical role in raising awareness in faith communities and among global leaders of this under-reported and unfolding tragedy. This united effort was a strong contribution to mobilizing greater action across the world which led to famine being averted and/or rolled back in the short-term.

However, the risk continues into 2018. After years of a steady and remarkable progress on reducing world hunger, the numbers of hungry people globally have started to climb - a startling reversal less than three years after global leaders collectively agreed that achieving the ambitions of the Sustainable Development Goals demanded that no-one be left behind. Famine, drought and armed conflict, are making millions of our sisters and brothers hungry, homeless and vulnerable to conflicts, violence, and abuse.

In a world where is more than enough resources and food for all, less than 50% of needed resources to address these challenges are being collected. While in most parts of the world, we have peace, we are not only unable to stop festering localized conflicts, and many across the world are guilty of encouraging the fratricidal slaughters. Children, young men, and women have been among the most affected. Millions of women and girls are exposed to gender-based violence in these crisis-affected areas. Apart from strengthening the ongoing peace initiatives at the national and community level and increasing support for humanitarian responses, including greater access to the most vulnerable communities, we also must stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers to support them to realize a future free of extreme poverty, hunger, and violence.

Let us observe 10 June 2018 as a Global Day of Prayer to End Famine. May our prayers join the millions of our sisters and brothers as they cry to the Lord to be delivered from their distress. May we, together, make a straight way, to sustained peace, wellbeing and abundance!